Door-operating means.



B. M. MATTHEWS.

noon OPERATING MEANS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 5, 1909.

952,829. Patented Mar.22,1910.

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E. M. MATTHEWS.

DOOR OPERATING MEAN3. I APPLICATION FILED NOV. 5, 1909.

952,829. Patented MM, 1910.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

vised it H'IOtlVC-llllld EDGAR M. MATTHEWS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS,ASSIGNOB. OF ONE-HALF TO W. E. ROTHERMEL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

noon-or'nenrmo MEANS.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented ME Application filed November5, 1909.

To all whom u may concern:

Be it known that I, EDGAR M. MATTHEWS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented a new anduseful Improvement in Door-Operating Means, of whichthe following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in the class of sliding doorswhlch require, in their use, to be readily opened and held open for atime,'as by hand or foot power, and to beclosed automatically and more rless quickly upon releasing them. from the open condition. Furnace-doorsand car-doors are among the varieties included inthis class, the formerrequirmg to .be held open while throwing a shovelful of coal into thefurnace and closed 'as' eX- peditiously as possible to reduce to theminimum the period of exposing the fire to the outer air and the latterrequiring to be held open long enough to permit passengers to pass andto close thereafter with theleast possible waste of time.

'My invention relates, more particularly stated, to improved means foroperating,-1n the manner thus suggested, a sliding door of any kind; butI illustrate it in the drawing, forming a part hereof, as appliedto alocomotive furnace for the sake of convenieno end because I haveimmediately defor that particular application.

In accompanying drawing,-Figure l is a view n front elevation showing alocoace doorequipped with my im provement, with the door in itsnormally-- closed condition; Fig. 2 is a view like that presented inFig.1,butshowingthe door open Fig. 3is a broken sectional'view showingthe furnace-portion of a locomotive in side elevation equipped with myimprovement; Fig. t is an enlarged sectional view of the housedhelical-spring device which is applied to the lazy-tongs, at theirjunctions, for-unfolding or distendin them to effect thddoor-closure,Fig. 5 is a roken perspective'view of the actuating treadle-lever and aroclcshaft arm adapted to be connected therewith, but showing them inunassembled relation.

In Figs 1 and 2 the floor-line of a locomotive-furnace is indicated at6. The dooroaening 7 leading to the fire-boxds faced, above and below,with similar metal Z-bars S and 9. The furnace-door 10 is formed of twosimilar members or sections 11 and 12,

22. inf ll.

Serial no. 526,361.

each grooved alongits upper and lower edges there to embrace thevertical sections of the Z-bars to enable them. to slide thereon towardand from each other in closing the door bymeeting at the vertical centerof the opening 7 and to open it by separating the sections. A rock-shaft13 is journaled above the door to extend lengthwise of the bar 8 andcarries on its opposite pro ect1ug ends similar depending ari'ns 14 and15, terminating at their lower ends. respectively, in

forwardly-projecting wedge-shaperfl fingers 16 and 17. A lever forturning the rockshaft is shown in its preferred form of a bellcranktreadle l8 fulcrumcd, at 19. to extend its lower end downwardly andforwardly, at the left-hand side of the furnace-door, into positionconveniently accessible to the left foot of the fireman, the oppositebent and shorter arm of the treadle being pivotally connected, at 20,with the lower slotted end of thearm 14 On the'shaft 13 is provided atorsion-spring 21, confined in a suitable casing 22 and performing thefunction hereinafter explained. One end of a lazy-tongs 23 is pivotallyfastened to the face of the door-member 12., and a similar lazy-tongs 23is fastened in like manner to the face of the door-member 11, wherebydistending or unfolding the lazy-tongs into the condition represented inFig. 1 runs the door-members toward each other to elose'the door, andspreading the members apart to open the door results-from folding orretracting the lazy-tongs into the condition represented in Fig. 2. Thefirst-named, or normal. condition is superinduced by the action of atorsion-spring device 24: at the fulcrum of each lazy-tongs andinvolving, as its preferred construction, that shown in Fig. 4:. Thehelical spring 25 is housed in a tubular metal shield 26 lined withheat-insulating material 27, such as asbestos covering, to protect thespring against injury from they furnace-heat; and a rod 28. fastened atits opposite ends, as to the forward boiler-head and the frontfurnace-wall, extends horizontally and centrally lengthwise through theshield and through the spring 25 therein. the end of the shield nearestthe boiler being preferably closed by a metal head 29, protected on itsinner face with insulating material 27 the head howcver, not beingnecessarily fastened to the shield. The rods 28 form fulcrums for thelazy-tongs, along 0pposite ends of which the springs extend throughloops thereon, one end of each spring passing out through the wall ofits 4 d 26 and along the latter through a nc......i.ng 81 on its forwardend, as shown in d. The outer curved ends of the lazy tongs register, attheir meeting-extremities, respectively with the wedges 16 and 17, thepointed ends of which normally extend between those extremities in thenormal forwardly-inclined condition of the arms 14L and 15 and treadle18 maintained by the normaltension of the spring 21, in which conditionof the parts the door-members abut to close the door with the lazy tongsin their condition represented in Fig, 1. Pressure on the treadle turnsthe rock-shaft 18 against theresistance of the spring 21 to advancethearms 1 1 and 15 and force the wedges be tween the lazy-tongs tospread them apart at their adjacent ends, thereby bringingthem,

- against the tension of their controlling springs 25, to the conditionrepresented in Fig. 2, whereby they retract the door-memhers and openthe door, which is held open while the treadle remains depressed by thefoot of. the fireman during the time he is throwing a shovelful of coalinto the furnace. The momenthe releases the treadle, the spring 21 turnsthe shaft 13 to retract the arms 14, 15 and withdraw the wedges tonormal position; and the springs 25 being v thus freed, theirrecoil-force distends the lazy-tongs to slide the members 11 and 12toward each other and thus quickly close the door.

, While the door is shown to be of the folding variety, comprising twomembers, it may be a single sliding door, when, of course, only one ofthe lazy-tongs and the means connected with therock-shaft for operatingit'would be required.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. Incombination with a sliding door, a spring-pressed lazy-tongs pivotallyconnected at its inner end with the door, a springpressed rock-shafthaving anarm extending from it and provided with a wedge register= ingwith the separable outer end of the lazytongs, and means for turningsaid shaft against the resistance of its controllingspring to force thewedge between the extremities of said separable end of the lazytongs,for the purposeset forth..

' 2. In combination with a sliding door, a lazy-tongs pivotallyconnected at its inner end with the door, a rod forming the lazytongsfulcrum, a spring confined about said rod with its free ends engagingopposite arms of the lazy tongs, a spring-pressed rock-shaft having anarm extending from it and provided with a wedge registering with theseparable outer end of the lazytongs, and means for turning said shaftagainst the resistance of its controlling spring to force the wedgebetween the extremities of said separable end of the lazytongs,-for thepurpose set forth.

3. In combination with a sliding-door, a lazy-tongs pivotally connectedat its inner end with the door, a rod forming the lazytongs fulcrum, ametal shield surrounding said rod, a spring confined in the shield aboutthe rod therein with its free ends engaging opposite arms of thelazy-tongs, a spring-pressed rock-shaft having an arm extending from itand provided with a wedge registering with the separable outer end ofthe lazy-tongs, and means for turning said shaft against the resistanceof its controlling spring to force the wedge'bctween the extremities ofsaid separable end of the lazy-tongs, for the purpose set forth.

1. In combination with a sliding door, a spring-pressed lazy-tongspivotally connected at its inner end with the door, a springpressedrock-shaft having an arm extending from it and provided with a wedgeregistering with the separable outer end of the lazytongs, and a leverfulcrumed near one end adjacent to said arm and connected therewith, forthe purpose set forth.

5. In combination, a door formed of two sliding sections adapted to beseparated to open the door and brought into meeting relation to closeit, and means for operatin said sections, comprising spring-pressedlazy-tongs each connected at its inner end with one of the door-sectionsand separable at its outer end, a spring-pressed rock-shaft having armsextending from it and provided ,with wedges registering with saidseparable ends of the lazy-tongs, and a lever connected with said shaftfor turning it against the resistance of its controlling-spring to forcethe wedges between the extremities of the separable ends of therespective lazy-tongs, for the purpose set forth. 6. In combination, a.door formed of two sliding sections adapted to be separated to openthedoor and brought into meeting relation to close it, and means foroperating said sections,- comprising spring-pressed lazy-tongs eachconnected at its inner end with one of the door-sections and separableat its outer'end, a spring-pressed rock-shaft having arms extending fromit and provided with wedges registering with said separable EDGAR M.MATTHEWS.

In presence of.

R. A. WILSON, J. SGHAEFER.

